Timber Value of Melaleuca Quinquivera

[edswood Stuff]

My name is Ed Famulare and I'm a woodcarver/woodworker in Southwest Florida (Naples area). We have millions of Melaleuca Quinquivera (sp???) trees that are being destroyed by the state of Florida because they are an exotic species causing problems here. I'm trying to find out if the lumber from these trees is harvested in Australia and if so, what are it's uses? It seems very strong and durable and I have used it for many walking sticks with sucessful results. Is it worth buying a small lumber mill to cut it into boards or is the wood too difficult to work with?? There is so much of it available in this area that it seems sinful to let it all go to waste. Any help you can give me in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[underfoot]

I'm trying to find out if the lumber from these trees is harvested in Australia and if so, what are it's uses? .

Hi ed, in short, mostly not, we have lots of this species (paper bark) all down the east coast of Australia..
Back in the 60's they were popular with school teachers (getting kids to do bark paintings)
I've heard from a shipwright mate that a nicely formed/curved limb can make for a nice knee for boat building..
maybe there's a few other uses for it that others may know about .....
oh yeah...our native birds love the nectar when they are in flower..

[Ironwood]

I had the opportunity to mill up a fairly large Malaleuca about 15 years ago.

I built a queen sized bed and a computer desk with some of the timber (I am sitting at the desk typing this reply)

I found the timber nice to look at, mine has some nice wavey grain, and some quilting type figure.

I found you had to keep the router moving fairly quickly otherwise it left burn marks on the edges of the boards, which had to be sanded off.
Some metals left stains on the timber if left in contact for too long.
Other than that, it seems to be OK.

[Christos]

Welcome to the forum. I guess you will try and get some timber off the state.